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Posts Tagged with singing

Singing at Home, Too

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Singing at home should NOT be viewed as a substitute for corporate singing, it should be viewed and preparation for more intelligent and affectionate singing at the church house.

By now, nearly 10 months into a global “state of emergency”, declared by national leaders, most state Governors, and local municipalities, we are still finding many churches functioning as partial gatherings or still only online services.

I am not shy in my opinion of this. However, I do respect that I don’t know what it’s like were the rest of the world lives. Other than the initial 14 days were were requested in March/April of 2020 when we were told that reducing group sizes would help “slow the curve”, Eastside Baptist has met every week with public singing, preaching, praying, communion, and face-to-face gatherings without mandating face coverings. Some day I will enjoy thinking through what others have experienced in the various regions that have faced severe hardships from governments, but by the grace of God my local city and county governments have been pleased to leave the church house alone. I don’t count this a small thing. May God bless my local governments.

But that’s really not the focus of this post.

At Eastside Baptist we are convinced that the corporate gathering is of significant importance. Even when many in our community are not aware of what songs we may be singing to God or what Biblical text I’m preaching on, there is a glorious blessing to this community that there are still followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who gather and declare the glories of God, together.

That said, I am also sure that there is a special kindness of God to a community when God’s people sing, read, and pray in their homes, too.

For the past few months I have emphasized at least one song of the faith for an entire month at a time. Thus far we have looked closely at “Rock of Ages” and this month upon “the Solid Rock”. The emphasis is to encourage singing in the home as part of a regular family worship practice. I have encouraged households to sing the song of emphasis multiple times throughout the month as a family.

Notably, in homes where this is not already a practice, it has felt odd to sing in the home. But historically, biblically, it appears a practice of the people of God. Following are a few thoughts I have concerning the benefits of singing in our homes, too. (I emphasis the “too” because I don’t want anyone to misunderstand me, I think corporate singing – face to face – is a practice of the church I’m not willing to set down.)

A few Benefits to singing at home, too:

  • Singing is proven to improve memory retention.
  • It has been shown that singing righteous songs can play a big part in alleviating depression.
  • Singing involves the mind.
  • Singing invokes emotions.
  • Singing engages the body.
  • It’s been said “words make you think, music makes you feel, and a song makes you feel a thought”. (I don’t know who said that, but I agree.)
  • Theology is sung before most can read or write.
  • Songs are memorable.
  • Group singing enables expressions
  • Group singing is a complex activity that requires cooperation.
  • Group singing expresses a common purpose.

In his classic work “the Church in the Home” Bible commentary author, Matthew Henry said, “If every family were a praying family, public prayers would be better joined in more intelligently and more affectionately.”

I agree and would include singing in that observation.

If every family were a singing family, public singing would be better joined in more intelligently and more affectionately.

Gather your household and sing, then gather with other households this Sunday and sing more intelligently and more affectionately.

Did I mention…
Theology is sung before most can read or write.

For Church and Family (003) Singing

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In this clip I encourage parents to teach the children to sing at and with the church family when we gather on the Lord’s Day.

Tips for Church and Family:

  • Parents:
    • instruct your children to sing.
    • They don’t have to know how to read in order to sing.
    • Use the home study guide to teach songs.
    • Use the singing time as a starter for paying attention to what is happening and the importance of participating with everyone.
    • This is a good time to put down the toys and coloring books, and sing.
  • Church:
    • Sing!

What if the House of Prayer was Empty?

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There are unmistakable biblical markers of what a New Testament church should be doing when they gather together. There are sure things that ought to cause a New Testament church to gather together. (1) Preaching, (2) Singing, (3) Caring for each other (especially for widows and orphans in distress), (4) Baptizing converts, (5) Eating, (6) Proclaiming the Lord’s death, and (7) Praying.

The faithful church is sure to want to keep true in all of her duties. But, as warned by the Apostles, certain individuals have crept in and have been successful at times to redirect the efforts of the church in other ways.

It makes since when you think about it.

  • The enemy of God knows the power of preaching Scripture. Because of the power of the word of God, the enemy of God wants preachers to preach anything and everything but truth.
  • The enemy of God knows that God has created men to sing. Singing is ordained of God for corporate proclamations and declarations of God and to God. If the enemy of God can get men to love songs more than they love God then the corporate proclamations and declarations are at risk of being of another god altogether and men won’t care because they love the music.
  • The enemy of God knows what true religion looks like. The bible is clear on this matter. Because the enemy of God hates true religion he will want to divert the resources of God’s people away from the care of orphans and widows in distress. He’ll put attractive and popular ministries in front of them and persuade us to direct most of our resources upon ourselves, satisfying that selfish craving of the old man.
  • The enemy of God loves to confuse people about their salvation. Salvation is a work of the grace of God not the works of men. But take the ordinances of God and make them something that looks like conversion and makes many think the church is growing and men will brag about how many are being baptized and have access to the Lord’s table and forget altogether about the spiritual birth of a new man and we no longer know what or how salvation is even given to the sons of men.
  • The enemy of God knows that God calls His peculiar people to gather at the house of prayer for prayer. Because he knows this, it makes sense that he would be pleased to make God’s people more in love with activities that make us too busy to pray together. It’s been said by many before, that if the enemy can’t reclaim you from the power of the blood of Christ then he’ll be pleased to make you busy. It appears that many professing believers in the land are either false professors or are very busy.

If any church in any given community were to announce this coming Lord’s Day that it will no longer hold corporate prayer meetings many professing Christians could care less. They may even wish the church would do so so they don’t have to feel guilt about not attending and praying together. But that’s not really the point of my observation here; many churches have practically closed the prayer gathering by filling up the church calendar with so much activity that many churches have practically no corporate prayer times anymore.

What would any community look like if there was not a praying people praying on behalf of the community at large? Why would a professing follower of God not want to obey His Lord and gather for prayer? If professing followers of God are either too busy or just generally not interested in this commanded duty of our Lord, what has their attention that they are willing to set this command aside and disobey God willfully. What god are many churches following if they are willing to willfully disobey their professed Lord?

Here’s what happens to many across the land…

  • Your favorite T.V. program will be moved to Wednesday night.
  • Your boss will reschedule you to work on Sunday’s and prayer meeting night.
  • Your school will schedule important events on these nights.
  • Your children will complain about the prayer time as boring. (because you agree you will concede.)
  • More people will come to an active program if you provide an option. Look at most churches that offer multiple things at the same time as the prayer meeting, the other activities will outpace the attendance of the prayer meeting and will eventually need everyone in the prayer meeting to help with crowd control for the “attractive” activities.

The community God has planted His church in should be  (1) Preaching, (2) Singing, (3) Caring for each other (especially for widows and orphans in distress), (4) Baptizing converts, (5) Eating, (6) Proclaiming the Lord’s death, and (7) Praying. Yet, in many communities across the land, churches are going another way. A way that transplants a powerful church in a community with a powerless not-a-church.

What then should we do?

Repent of our willful distractions and gather with the Lord’s people to pray. Church, this church gathers every Wednesday night for prayer at 6:30 p.m. we don’t provide any other distractions or attractions to capture our attention. It is a quite simple gathering. We read Scripture and we pray. The church described to us by the the work of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts met at specific places and specific times on specific days to pray.

Prayer isn’t just something we start and close a meeting with, it’s something we should gather to do!

Church, arise! To you post! To your duty! To your God! Don’t let your community have a prayer-less church filled with prayer-less professors of Christ’s Lordship.

Book Review of Doxology and Theology (pt. 2

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Last night (4/12/16) was the first gathering and discussion we (John, Steve, Bradley and myself) had on Boswell’s book, Doxology and Theology.

It was our original plan to meet at a local coffee house and have the discussion with a cup of coffee (hot chocolate for me). But the coffee house we went to closes at 7pm so we took our hot drinks to the church house and discussed the chapter there. It was a great discussion and a good start to what appears to be a beneficial book to read.

Chapter 1, Doxology, Theology, and the Mission of God by Matt Boswell

I couldn’t agree more with Boswell on the statement he makes that “Theology is not intended for the elite, but for all of God’s people.” All of God’s people are not only able to know God but are invited and arguably commanded to know God ourselves. I make this argument to Eastside Baptist often that they are theologians.

We spent a good bit of time talking about how music in our worship service is an influential component of the gathering. It is critical in telling the story of what we (the gathered church) believes about God. Often the idea is hammered in chapter on that what we practice in our journey with the Lord is shaped by what we believe about God and the only safe place to know about God is from the aid of Scripture. Our music must be shaped from what the Bible teaches not on what music we like.

The chief end of theology is doxology (p. 12). All churches have a formula that dictates the way we praise God (that is what doxology is.) If this formula is not driven by biblical theology then we are in danger of idolatry. This is Boswell’s argument that it is “vital for worship leaders to have a robust and growing theology” and that “apart from the revelation of God, worship [of God] does not exist.” Something happens, worship of something happens, but worship of God can not happen unless it is in light of the revelation of who God is.

Chapter one was examined in the framework of Psalm 96. Boswell identifies five marks of the worship of the church from this passage, related to 1 Chronicles 16,

It was good to hear John, Steve, and Bradley express their thoughts on these five marks. They are not only friends, they are careful with their words.

1. the worship of the church is God-centered

The men I’m reading this book with understand that this is a must. If it is not God-centered then we are making worship about ourselves. We agree with the author that God-centered worship requires that all songs must be biblical. God centered worship involves a people who “sing to the Lord” (Psalm 96). The only kind of singing that glorifies God when the Lord’s people are gathered together for worship are songs that glorify God and are theologically driven from the Bible. The singing is “not meant to be entertainment or a distraction from God.” (p. 8)

Boswell makes a strong argument that worship leaders (all who are leading the gathered people during a worship service) are actively making disciples of those present. I wish I had had this truth present on my thinking years ago. The song leader is not mindlessly selecting songs (he may be) but he is actually teaching or making disciples by the songs he selects. The songs are an expression of the gathered people of what they think and believe about God. WOW! That is very important.

We discussed what the apostle means when he says we are to “sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) and what it means to “sing a new song” (Psalm 96:1). “Our song is a song of salvation. As the people of God we are meant to be continually writing new songs that confess the tenants of our faith in fresh, creative, and meaningful ways. However, tne songs are not an end in themselves. The “new song” we sing is informed by the “old song,” and looks with anticipation toward the new song we will sing in heaven (Rev.5:8-10). (p. 9-10)

New is not new just because it is new, it is new because it is shaped by the bible and maybe because it is unlike our old nature. It is not the gather people declaring new things never said about God. It is saying things about God that God has told us and unlike any idea of God we could ever come up with independent from the influence of Scripture by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

2. the worship of the church is biblically formed

“Worship leaders ought to come to lead the people of God with a guitar in one hand, and a Bible in the other, and know how to use each weapon well. We are a people formed by the word of God, and it is His Word that calls us to worship.” (p. 10)

We all laughed at this because we all play guitar. From expert to not so expert. From the skill of Steve all the way to the other end of myself. But a truer statement for us tonight could not be more profound. If all is done in the worship of God is with a music instrument and no theology then what is being done is no more than what is done on any night of the week in any other place in town. the Bible must form our worship if what is going to take place is worship of God.

3. the worship of the church is gospel-wrought

A way to God is impossible without theology. Idolatry is always on the verge of derailing the Lord’s people. The gospel is at stake! The songs that are sung by the Lord’s people is the sound of redemption, it is the sound of salvation.

We were all in agreement with Boswell that “it is vital for worship leaders to have a robust and growing theology. Apart from the revelation of God, worship does not exist.” (p. 13)

The music of the Lord’s people gathered together must be “infused with Scripture” – “gospel soaked” (p. 13) if it is to be powerful.

There is a songs that many churches sing, ours included, that need a phrase or two changed to tighten up the theology. We did not talk about this last night, but my reflection on it this afternoon has reminded me of  a song with the phrase “you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.” I get what this phrase is saying but it is weak theology. It is more informed by emotion than theology. This phrase give the authority of Christ being alive based upon my feeling that He is alive in my heart so that’s all that is needed. This fails the theology test in my opinion. I have friends of other faiths (Mormon in particular) who will say they know their Jesus or the God they worship is real because they feel it in their souls. Who’s emotional authority is superior? To the Bible, Christian, to the Bible. For me, all that needs to happen is tighten up the theology of the song and it clears up the authority. “You ask me how I know He lives, the Bible tells me so.”

4. the worship of the church is congregational

“We have to be more intentional about making worship congregational.” (p. 17)

“We don’t gather on Sundays to see pageantry performed. We gather to worship as a people who have been redeemed by the power of the cross. The primary function of the church singing is the church singing together.” (p.17)

I was encouraged by this and thankful for the understanding that the men who lead in this part of the gathering on a weekly basis agree. This has been a change that has been made at Eastside over the past several years. Rarely is a solo, “special” music, the norm of our gatherings. There are times a solo is done, but it is so rare that it can actually be called “special”. A special occasion or seasonal event may better serve the congregation with a solo, but not the norm and can’t be considered “congregational”.

Congregational singing is a spectacular element of the weekly gathering. It is of such a nature that it requires it be theological first. It is the moment when the congregation is saying the same thing about God at the same time. I enjoy the sound of the redeemed singing theologically sound declarations.

5. the worship of the church is missional

I’ll refrain from my opinion about the word missional. It is used many times without much clarification of what it means. I do think Boswell did a good job giving clarification that “our goal with all of this is that God would be glorified in the worship of every nation, tribe, and tongue. While worship is God-centered, it is also declarative.” (p. 18)

My conclusion of chapter one is summed up on page 21; “Our position before God is secured in what Christ has done for us, not in the ministry we do for Him. The more we allow the truths of the gospel to form our identity, the more apt we will be to serve without fear or the tendency to perform.”

I was encouraged by the things articulated in chapter one and encouraged that there is a mutual desire of those that lead in this duty at Eastside agree that God shapes this gathering and not us. These men understand that the power to attract people to God is not our duty; it is our duty to obey God who has revealed Himself to us through the Holy Bible. God has the authority to direct us in how to properly worship Him.

May the Lord be glorified and His people pleased to worship Him as he instructs us to do so.

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